Color Club Halo Hues 2013 Holographic Swatches

Recently I have been obsessed with anything holographic, so I finally bought the Color Club Halo Hues. This is the collection that came out in 2013 and it's amazing.

It consists of 6 darker darker linear holographic polishes.

This post is going to have more photos than writing because I don't want to keep repeating myself.

Each swatch has 2 coats plus topcoat. The formula on all of them was amazing. Some holos have a tricky formula where the second coat pulls the first coat creating bald spots. I had absolutely no issues. They're very opaque, smooth and easy to work with.

They dry with a dull shine, so I applied topcoat. It doesn't need topcoat.

They're all extremely holographic, it doesn't even need to be in direct sunlight to see it.

All photos are taken with a flash, apart from the close up macro shots and if stated otherwise.

All swatches & Review after the jump!

CM Handmade UK Nail Art Leopard Print

CM Handmade UK is an indie brand located in the UK. They are a fairly new nail polish brand but have some amazing polishes. Anywhere from cremes to crelly's to holos.

I received a few polishes from them to review and decided to create some nail art!

I love the way leopard print mani's look, but I feel like I can never pull them off. These, I actually really love!

Products Used:

CM Handmade UK Perble

CM Handmade UK Vanilla Bean

Essie Ignite The Night

Barry M Nail Art Pen Black

Dotting Tool

I used Perble (purple) and Vanilla Bean (nude) as the base for the leopard print. I love these two colours and they really compliment each other. 

They both have a fantastic formula and only need 2-3 coats for full opacity. 

The glitter is called Ignite the night by Essie. 

This is a dark silver glitter with some coppery bits in there too in a clear base. It's a really beautiful glitter combination and it's incredibly dense. I used 2 coats.

I used a dotting to to apply some random dots on my middle and ring finger. I then used the Barry M Nail Art Pen to draw some random lines around the dots. So simple! 

xx Elaine 

Frightfully Spectacular Swatch & Review

Lolly from Frightfully Spectacular asked me to swatch one of her nail polishes. This is a brand I hadn't heard of before. Frightfully Spectacular is a brand new UK based indie nail polish brand selling alternative and steampunk inspired collections. I love the fact that this is a bit more of an edgy brand, you definitely won't see any of these cute pastel neons. Instead Lolly has created stunning duo chrome shimmer polishes and glitter combos.

Check out her shop for all her polishes here!

All of the polishes are 5 free and cruelty free. They retails for £5 for a 10ml bottle.

Lolly asked me what my favourite polish colour is. I told her anything but I love blues and purples the most. The polish she sent me is both blue and purple! Perfection!

This is Story.

It's a dark dusty blue base with a gorgeous purple shimmer.

I wore this polish two different ways. The first few photos show 3 coats on its own, and the later pictures show it over a black base.

For these first 3 photos I used 3 coats on its own.

The first coat was very sheer. It almost made my nails look very badly stained by a blue polish. The second coat really deepened the colour but there was still a bit of my visible nail line.

The third coat again deepened the colour and made it completely opaque.

The purple shimmer is very apparent and it almost makes the polish look like it's glowing from within. A really beautiful effect.

I added a topcoat to the swatch. The polish dries with a dull shine, definitely shiny, but I love mine to be even more glossy. Adding the top coat also enhanced the purple shimmer.

Here is one coat of Story over a black base. The colour is completely transformed!

Instead of the blue dusty base with the gorgeous purple shimmer, it's now a bam in your face bright purple shimmer polish. It looks like it also has a hint of blue shimmer too.

I love the polish both ways, but I think it's more unique without the black base. It's a very soft colour whereas with the black base it's much louder.

Story has an incredible formula.

Although it is quite sheer, it's very easy to build up.

It was a dream to apply. There was no streakiness or bald spots. It dried very quickly too making it easy to apply the three coats.


To find out more about Frightfully Spectacular, check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.

Freckles Polish Neon Watermarble

 With all this hot weather in the UK, I want want to do is wear neons! One of my favourite neons recently has been Jelly Shoes by Freckles Polish.

This is such a bright pink, and nothing like any other pinks in my collection. For a full review of click here!

I have been really into watermarble recently. Something about summer and hot weather just tells me to watermarble!

Products used:

Barry M Coconut 

Kester Black Sugar Daddy

Freckles Polish Jelly Shoes

Nails Inc Optic Glow (2014)

Nail Mail Mess Free Mani (Liquid Latex)

I started off painting my pinky and index finger using Coconut by Barry M. This is a slightly creamy off white polish. I also painted Sugar Daddy by Kester Black on my ring finger and middle finger. 

I've been seeing a lot of watermarble where people have used a clear polish over glitter. I have done it before and loved the results. 

Nails Inc Optic Glow is a very very very sheer pink polish and it's fantastic for water marbling. 

I think the final result looks so cool! But I wish I was better at creating shapes and designs. 

Check out Freckles Polish on Etsy and Instagram! 

xx Elaine

CM Handmade UK Nail Art Gradient

CM Handmade UK is an indie brand located in the UK. They are a fairly new nail polish brand but have some amazing polishes. Anywhere from cremes to crelly's to holos.

I received a few polishes from them to review and decided to create some nail art!

I have been obsessed with gradients recently. They're so easy to do and look so impressive!

Products used: 

Barry M Cotton: White base

Nail Mail Mess Free Mani: Liquid Latex

Primark Cosmetic Sponge

CM Handmade UK Lucite (green)

CM Handmade UK Perble (purple)

CM Handmade UK Vanilla Bean (nude)

Leighton Denny Angel Dust (silver glitter)

Ulta3 Stop The Press

Hema Fast Drying Topcoat.

More info and swatches after the jump!

Neon Gradient with Nail Mail Stencils

I am a huge fan of creating gradients. I think it's the easiest nail art to create and it always looks so impressive!!

To make it even more impressive I used nail stencils from Nail Mail. Nail Mail is a UK nail stencils company to help you create difficult designs with an easy stencil!

For this design I used the Moroccan Vintage design.

To find out how I've created this design keep reading! 

Shop Eighty4 Pastel Neon Flowers Nail Art

My blog mainly focuses on swatches and reviews, however I also have an instagram (@elaine.nails) which also includes a lot of nail art!

I love nail art, but I go through phases where I take a brake and just paint my nails 1 colour. Right now.. I'm in a nail art phase!

I created this pastel neon gradient floral nail art design using Barry M and Shop Eighty4 nail polishes.

I started off creating an all black and white floral design.

I used Barry M Cotton as a white base.

This is my favourite white polish and even though it's still relatively new to my collection, you can already see a clear usage line.

With careful application this is opaque in just 1 coat! So it's great to use under nail art. If I wear the polish alone I'll usually use 2 coat, but under a gradient or other design I use 1 to save time and layers.

I then used the Barry M Nail Art Pen in Black to add some flowers. I just placed 5 dots in a circle to make a flower. Super easy.

I really liked the design but felt like it needed some colour.

I decided to add a gradient on my index and pinky finger used 3 pastel neons from Shop Eighty4.

I used Cotton Candy (pink), Lasha Lavender (purple) and Powder Puff (blue).

To create the gradient I used a white base of Barry M Cotton and applied a topcoat so the polish won't pull up with the gradient.

I applied the 3 colours onto a cosmetic sponge. I buy mine from Primark, the cheapest seem to work best for me! I then dabbed it onto my nails. I applied 2-3 "coats".

I also used a dotting tool to add colour to the centre of the flowers using the same colours as the gradient.

I finished it all off with a topcoat. I use a fast drying topcoat from Hema. It's amazing.

I really love this design, it's super easy to create and great for the spring.

xx Elaine

Freckles Polish Holographics Haul & Swatches

Freckles Polish is a UK indie brand who sent me a few polishes to review a couple weeks ago. I fell in love with the polishes so I bought a few more! Julieann, the creator of Freckles Polish, makes some amazing holographic polishes. I literally want them all, but unfortunately I have to pay rent :(

I bought 4 polishes. From left to right: Papa Legba, Blue Lagoon, The Seven Wonders and Birthday Suit.

Full size bottles of 10ml cost £6.50, and minis of 5ml cost £3.50.

First up is Papa Legba.

This is a stunning deep blood red linear holographic.

I didn't have any sun on the day of swatching these so this is a photo with flash. In real sunlight (macro shot coming up) it's much more holographic.

This is inspired by the TV show American Horror Story.

More info and swatches after the jump! 

Let It Glitter! Haul & Swatches

Let It Glitter is a Dutch indie brand created by Suzanne. I'm seriously in love with her polishes, but unfortunately I can't afford to buy every single one.

To check out my first haul click here!

I picked up a few random polishes. Three are from her new Anniversary collection, and I have 3 randoms.

I'll start off with my favourite.... and the most difficult polish to photograph. EVER.

This is Soulmate. This is from the Anniversary Collection.

It's a really bright neon medium warm toned pink. It's unlike any other pink I own. The picture isn't 100% colour accurate, but it's as close as I could possible get it. I actually swatched this 3 times on 3 separate days. It was frustrating.

Luckily it has an amazing formula.

I used 2 coats for the swatch. The coats are super easy, smooth and streak free. The second coat fully covers up the nail line.

It dries to a semi matte finish so I did apply topcoat to the swatch.

More info and swatches after the jump! 

Freckles Polish Swatch & Review Part 2

I received half of the Back To The 80s Collection by Freckles Polish to review a few weeks ago, and I loved them so much I decided to buy the other half of the collection! Check out the first half here!

Freckles Polish is a UK Indie brand run by Julieann. She's created some amazing holographic polishes and I literally want them all. Spoiler alert, I also bought some holos which'll be in a different post.

The Back To The 80s Collection consists of 4 neons and 4 complimenting holo polishes. This post will include the purples and the yellows.

First up is Get Off My Bum ... Bag.

This is a beautiful bright warm toned purple. I love it!

I used 2 coats for the swatch plus topcoat

The first coat was slightly streaky and there was still a clear visible nail line. It's fully opaque in 2 coats. The second coat also brightens the colour.

It dries very very quick, so you have to be careful with application. It dries to a matte finish.

I compared it to China Glaze Violet Vibes from the Electric Nights collection and Ulta3 Spring Break.

As you can see Get Off My Bum ... Bag is much brighter a pink toned.


More info and swatches after the jump!

Free Nails Inc Polish with InStyle Magazine

This month Nails Inc is giving away four free nail polishes with InStyle magazine. It's a great combination of brights and pastels so there's something to suit everyone!

There is a gorgeous minty green, a red, pink and a purpley grey. The pink and red aren't very unique, and as you'll see from my comparisons coming up, it's easy to pass those up. The other two shades are great and I'd definitely recommend them.

First up is The Tide Is High.

This is a gorgeous mint which leans slightly more blue than green. It's beautiful and my favourite of the 4.

I used 2 coats for the swatch.

It was streaky on the first coat but the second coat covered everything up.

I did do 2 very careful coats, I think this could easily be a 3 coater, especially on my other hand!!

I compared it to Optic Wave from a little over a year ago.

Optic Wave is 1 of 3 polishes that I actually have a back-up of.

The Tide Is High is a much lighter version of Optic Wave. I think both are equally beautiful.

More info and swatches after the jump! 

Kester Black Haul Swatches & Review

A few weeks ago Kester Black announced they were going to start international shipping! I discovered Kester Black when I was living in Melbourne and instantly fell in love with the polishes. When I moved back to the UK I wasn't able to buy Kester Black anywhere! And the worst thing was that they kept releasing new collections!! Finally, after many many months, I can buy them again.

The service was fantastic! The polishes cost $20 each, but for international orders the tax is taken off so they're $18.18. The shipping costs $34.

The polishes arrived after just 5 days. Incredible. They were sent with DHL so I was updated every step of the way and I was given a time slot of when they'd arrive. Super super quick.

I bought a few of the new core shades and a few from the O&M collab collection.

First up is Know Knott.

This is a limited edition colour in collaboration with O&M.

This kind of reminds me of OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, I haven't done a comparison, but I think this is a little more orangey blush toned.

I used 2 coats for the swatch. It had a very easy application without any issues.

The polish dries to a semi glossy finish.

More info and swatches after the jump!

Isadora Haul Swatches & Review

I keep seeing swatches of the brand Isadora on my instagram feed, and I couldn't resist any longer.

Isadora is a Swedish beauty brand. They offer a wide range of make-up, but of course I was only interested in the nail polishes.

They have a wide range of different polishes including a no UV gel line, graffiti (crackle), wonder nail (extra long lasting) and more.

I was mainly interested in the gel lacquer as I've heard such excellent reviews. I placed my order from Fruugo as they shipped internationally.

I didn't test the longevity of the polish as I'm not allowed to wear nail polish to work.

The bottle shape is very unique and not something I've seen before. The cap pulls off so it's easy to hold. The bottles itself are very small and only hold 6ml. That's basically the same size as most minis which is a little disappointing considering the price. I paid £7.95 for the fuel polishes.

The brush is beautiful. It's a very wide flat brush that easily covers my whole nail.

First up is Skyline.

This is the reason for my haul, I saw this on instagram and I literally had to have it.

It's a really beautiful light blue shade with maybe 1 drop of purple.

I used 2 coats for the swatch.

The first coat was slightly streaky, but the second coat covered everything up. It dries quick and glossy.

It is recommended to wear the Gel top coat with these polishes, but for the swatches I didn't apply any top coat.

More info and swatches after the jump!

Yes Love Swatch & Review (part 1)

I discovered the brand Yes Love through instagram and thought they were gorgeous polishes. After a bit of research I found that they are only €2 each! I believe Yes Love is a Portuguese brand, but I ended up purchasing from eBay (from a Portuguese seller). I bought a set of 6 polishes for only £9.95 and free shipping!!

I have the first 4 to show you today.

They're all crelly polishes with neon hex glitter. It's a very indie thing to do so seeing these types of polishes from a mainstream brand is very exciting. Especially for being so affordable!

The bottles come with a full off cap, which I accidentally discovered when I thought I broke the bottle.

First up is the white base. Unfortunately they don't have names, just codes. This is G11-5.

I swatched this over Barry M Cotton, a white polish. I'm not sure whether these would be opaque on their own, but decided it would be easier to just layer them over similar colours.

It contains 2 sizes of hex glitter in purple, pink, orange, yellow, green and blue.

I used 2 coats for the swatch (over 1 coat of Cotton).

It would have been fine with just 1 coat over a white base, but I wanted to add a bit of depth to the polish.

It looks like a party on my nails. The matte glitter is so bright and it really pops on the white base.

It was very easy to get the glitter on my brush.

Next is G11-4, the pink polish.

I thought this would be my favourite, but it actually turned out to be my least favourite of the 4.

It's a light but bright pink base and has purple, orange, yellow and green matte hex glitter in 2 sizes.

I don't think the colours of the glitter really match with the pink base.

I used 2 coats over 2 coats of Pink Friday by OPI.

Again, 1 coat would have been fine, but I wanted to add a bit of depth.

The glitter was a little tricker to get on the brush. I could easily get the small hex glitter onto my nail, but the larger hex glitters were very difficult to get on my brush. I ended up having to dab the hex glitter off the stem of the brush. I didn't really care too much, but it's just something to be aware of.

This is my favourite of the 4. This is G11-1, the purple polish.

This is a light purple base with pink, purple, blue, yellow green, orange large hex glitter and small purple and pink hex glitter.

I used 2 coats over 2 coats of Go Ginza by Essie.

This one needed 2 coats. It was really difficult to get glitter on my brush, as you can tell from the brush shot! I put the bottle upside down, swirled the brush around... tried everything and I had the hardest time getting the large hex glitter out!!

Again I had to dab the glitter on the stem of the brush onto my nail just to get anything on there.

It was totally worth it though, I love this colour combo!!

The last one I tried is G11-3, the blue polish.

It's a gorgeous sky blue with pink, purple and yellow large hex glitter and orange, purple, yellow and green small hex glitter.

I used 2 for the swatch over 2 coats of Essie Blossom Dandy. Blossom Dandy is much more of a mint shade and much lighter.

Again, it was tricky to get the large hex glitter out. As you can see from the brush shot, it's very easy to get the small hex glitter out. I had to dab the large ones off the stem of the brush.

I think this is a really fun shade and something you don't see too often in the indie world.

The other 2 colours I haven't swatched yet are a yellow and a peach.

I'm really impressed with these polishes, I know I used a base underneath them, but I think they're stunning! I had some issues with the larger hex glitter, but I didn't really mind the extra effort. Especially because I bought a set of 6 for only £9.95!!